NUECES COUNTY, Texas — If you're a local businesses owner, you may want to prepare for more restrictions now that hospitalization rates are up in Nueces County.
The Coastal Bend Coronavirus Task Force hosted a pandemic report earlier today via Facebook Live with what their estimating could happen by early next year.
The task force is projecting a roll back in business capacity from 75-percent to 50-percent by January 11, 2021.
Per Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order GA-32, if Nueces County were to hit 15-percent of hospitals filled with COVID patients for seven days straight, our businesses could be affected.
Unfortunately, COVID hospitalizations in Nueces County are rising. The county saw an abrupt increase in hospitalizations from Dec. 24-27. Currently, 12-percent of hospitals have COVID patients in them.
Dr. Chris Bird with that task force wanted to remind everyone that the fall-winter coronavirus outbreak is continuing. With New Year’s Eve approaching, the task force said it’s still important to not celebrate as we normally would.
“2020 is not a normal year,” Dr. Bird said. “It’s not time to go back to normal. When we get to 2021, it’s not going to be magically better than 2020. It’s gonna be more of 2020 continuing into 2021 so we’re really encouraging you during New Year's and New Year's Eve to avoid public celebrations. Try to avoid multi-family celebrations.”
The task force said deaths per day are also expected to increase. There also may be a backlog from the state due to the holiday season and the rate of death certificates being processed.